House Bill Would Authorize Grants For 'Green' Infrastructure. (journal article)
by Jay Landers
from Civil Engineering, January 2010, Vol. 80 Issue 1, p10-11, 2p
"A summary is presented of the bill H.R. 4202, the Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act of 2009, prepared by U.S. House Representative Donna F. Edwards, December 3."
See also two Letters to the Editor concerning this article
The Politics of Green Infrastructure

The Blue Revolution (journal article)
by Colin Chartres
from Australasian Science, December 2009
"Water scarcity is going to be one of the critical limitations on agricultural production and our ability to feed the growing world population. However, the overall productivity of water use can be increased to help cope with increasing food demand."

An analysis of the relative efficiency of wastewater utilities in non-metropolitan New South Wales and Victoria (journal article)
by Joel Byrnes, Lin Crase, Brian Dollery and Renato Villano
from Australasian Journal of Regional Studies, Vol. 15, No. 2, 2009
"A recent policy issue in Australian local government has centred on a so-called ‘skills shortage’ in the sector, particularly in regional jurisdictions. In this paper, we estimate the relative efficiency of non-metropolitan water utilities in New South and Victoria and consider the role of divergent governance structures in order to measure the impact of unique managerial factors upon relative efficiency in wastewater service delivery. We find that larger utilities, governed by skills based boards, are relatively more technically efficient than those operating as a business unit of local government. We argue that this is partly explained by the ability of those utilities to attract and retain relatively more skilled staff. A number of policy recommendations are advanced."
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Water Utilities Cite Aging Equipment, Regulations, and Funding As Top Challenges. (journal article)
by Jay Landers
from Civil Engineering, September 2009
"The article presents a survey developed by the University of Cincinnati relative to the most formidable challenges facing U.S. drinking water and waste water utilities for the next 50 years. The survey includes 42 questions distributed to the members of the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, National Association of Clean Water Agencies, and the National Association of Water Companies. It shows that the challenges include aging infrastructure and funding shortfalls."

Abandoning Babylonian principles to rebuild our irrigation infrastructure (journal article)
by Iven Mareels
from ATSE Focus, August/September 2009
"The world's present water management is ... considered unsustainable because of the observed ecological deterioration of most of our natural water systems, but actually estimating the water resource that is readily and sustainably available for human activity is difficult. It is severely hampered by the paucity of quality data. Groundwater data in particular are scantily available. Australia reflects the world water situation well. Australia's water is already recognised as an activity-limiting resource that is further challenged by population growth and climate change: most of our urban communities are used to water restrictions; our farmers are subject to vastly reduced irrigation allocations; and our main river system, the Murray Darling, suffers severe environmental stress. In spite of this, our water infrastructure (like the rest of the world) is still largely fixated in the Deakin era, and our operational practices are definitely Sumerian/Babylonian in nature (although admittedly no longer temple-based) and suffer from low efficiency. This does not augur well for the future. "

Transitions : pathways towards sustainable urban development in Australia [book]

Editor: Peter W. Newton

Sections include: Global and local forces re-shaping cities -- Demographic and settlement transitions -- Transitioning to resilient cities -- Transition to renewable energy -- Transition to integrated urban water systems -- Transitioning waste to resources -- Infrastructure and urban planning transitions -- Transitioning attitudes to sustainability -- Scenarios for the future.

Click here to request a copy through your library.

The price of saving water (journal article)
from OECD Observer Issue 272 April 2009, pp. 19-22
"The article reports on the hesitation of investors regarding water investment amidst financial crisis. It is said that investors hesitate in investing in water because the risks stay high and the revenue from water projects comes from user fees and government subsidies. It is suggested that government must establish regulatory framework to assure investors that water offers the alternative of stable investment return."

Water and Wastewater Services in Non-Metropolitan New South Wales: A Critical Analysis of the Report of the Independent Inquiry (journal article)
by Brian Dollery
from Agenda, Vol 16 No 2 2009
"The Commonwealth's assumption of greater control over water policy has been justified on the grounds that a 'national approach' to the problems in the Murray-Darling Basin is required to resolve the ills of the Basin. This paper investigates the validity of this contention in the context of the Federal government's 'Water for the Future' manifesto. The paper argues that the current naive understanding of 'water use efficiency' concepts is likely to stymie any purported basin-wide gains from a 'national approach' to water policy."

Infrastructure finance : trends and techniques [book]

Edited by Henry A. Davis

"Gives a broad view of trends and techniques in infrastructure financing around the world today. The title considers a wide range of projets including transport, water systems, power and toll road privatisation. Themes include the rising need for infrastructure investment, the quality of country infrastructure, government budget limitations and benefits and risks of investment." - publisher’s website.

Want to borrow a copy from the library? Click here to email through your request.

Finding Nemo (journal article)
by Peter Pockley
from Australasian Science, Vol 30, No. 4, May 2009
"James Cook discovered the East Australia Current ore than two centuries ago, but its profound influence on eastern Australia is only now coming to be understood."

Managing water for all : an OECD perspective on pricing and financing [online]

Author: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

"This report, which emphasises the economic and financial aspects of water resources management and water service provision, the need for an integrated approach (including governance considerations) to address these complex policy challenges, and the importance of establishing a firm evidence base to support policy development and implementation, summarises the results of OECD work in this area." - abstract.

Click here to access.

Two Decades of Murray-Darling Water Management: A River of Funding, a Trickle of Achievement (journal article)
by Lisa Yu-Ting Lee and Tihomir Ancev
" The paper appraises the myriad of Murray-Darling Basin-related policies since the early 1990s. It contends that significant environmental improvements could have been achieved at substantially lower cost had decisive action been taken earlier. If the total expenditures in the last two decades had been put solely towards water entitlement buy-backs, an amount of water several times that necessary to significantly improve the health of the Basin would have been acquired."

Water for the future (journal article)
by Penny Wong
from Public Administration Today No 15 2008
"Outline of the Rudd Government's national water plan, 'Water for the future' - establishment of a single, coherent, national framework that integrates rural and urban water issues."

Reform, Risk and Reality: Challenges and Opportunities for Australian Urban Water Management [journal article]
By: Stuart White, Kate Noble and Joanne Chong
From: Australian Economic Review, Vol 41 Issue 4 2008
"In this paper we review recent challenges to the water industry in Australia and describe a set of risks and opportunities in the form of a set of response measures. Some of these are being implemented or are being actively discussed within industry circles. These response measures are analysed for their potential benefits and their potential to be implemented in ways that yield either positive or negative social outcomes."

Water for Today,Water for Tomorrow: Establishment and Operation of the SEQ Water Grid [journal article]
By: Daniel Spiller, Queensland Water Commission
From: Australian Economic Review, Vol 41, Issue 4, 2008
"A new approach to water supply planning and management was required to respond to these challenges and to provide the capacity to be able to adapt to climate change. The Queensland Government response comprises an award winning demand management program, a range of innovative infrastructure projects and extensive institutional changes. The benefits of these initiatives will be long lasting, delivering new standards of water security and efficiency while building on recent improvements to waterways health. The range of initiatives and the speed in which they are being implemented is unprecedented in Australia. This paper provides an overview of the key elements of the SEQ response."

Improving water management
From OECD Economic Surveys: Australia, Vol 18 October 2008 (26 p.)
Over the past 15 years, water management issues have come to the fore in economic policy discussions. Over-exploitation of water and harmful environmental effects have become major concerns, while water is not used efficiently, especially in rural areas. Water extraction levels that are ecologically sustainable have been breached in a number of regions. Guaranteeing water security and diversifying supply for major urban areas has become a major policy challenge. This chapter reviews the challenges posed by water management, assesses the policies to meet them and suggests ways to make them more effective.

Public Provision for Urban Water: Getting Prices and Governance Right (journal article)
by Eduardo Araral
from Governance Vol. 21 No. 4 September 2008 pp. 527 - 549
Public sector monopolies are often associated with inefficiencies and inability to meet rising demand. Scholars attribute this to fundamental problems associated with public provision: (1) a tradition of below-cost pricing due to populist pressures, (2) owner–regulator conflicts of interest, and (3) perverse organizational incentives arising from non-credible threat of bankruptcy, weak competition, rigidities, and agency and performance measurement problems. Many governments worldwide have shifted to private provision, but recent experience in urban water utilities in developing countries has shown their limitations because of weak regulatory regimes compounded by inherent problems of information, incentives, and commitment. This article examines the paradoxical case of the Phnom Penh Water Supply in Cambodia to illustrate how public provision of urban water can be substantially improved by getting prices and governance right. Findings have implications for the search for solutions to provide one billion people worldwide with better access to potable water.

Troubled waters : confronting the water crisis in Australia's cities [book]

Patrick N. Troy

"Designed to explore the nature of the demand for urban water services and how that has changed over the last century. It discusses how the demand for centralised provision of urban water services might be re-shaped to enable urban areas to better cope with the water supplies that might be expected to change as the cities adjust to climate change." - cover.

Electric water : the emerging revolution in water and energy [book]

Christopher C. Swan

"Offers a vision of a near future where quality of life is dramatically improved for all without drastic scalebacks. The vision is based on technology - solar energy, water purification, transportation and eco-restoration - that already exists. It is attainable within 20 years and represents thousands of jobs, in urban and rural areas, and economic development globally." - cover.

Approaches to urban water pricing [online resource]

Australia. National Water Commission

Assesses the current arrangements, scarcity pricing and urban user trading against a number of criteria, including economic efficiency, revenue adequacy, flexibility, ease of operation, and transparency.